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Monday, June 1, 2009

I told Alyssa that I'd make my Grilled Salmon this weekend so that I could guage how much of each ingredient I use. Then, I decided to try using fresh thyme instead of my usual dried thyme, since I'm growing thyme in my garden this year. I have heard that some fresh herbs will get bitter, so I looked online to see how it would go and found a different recipe for cedar plank salmon that I haven't done before. Since it includes not only fresh thyme, but also fresh oregano, rosemary and parsley (all of which I'm growing this year), I decided to try it instead.

Todd liked it more than I did. I thought it was just ok. Had I never had my original cedar planked salmon recipe, I might have thought it was good. But, no, not AT ALL better than my recipe. It needed some more flavor, and something else added in, although I wasn't sure what. I thought it was slightly not tasty and I likely will not make it again.

Still, give it a try if you like, it wasn't horrible, and it doesn't contain the sugar that is in my recipe (although it contains wine, so it's still got sugar in it).

I have more salmon in the freezer, so I will make my recipe soon and post it.

oooh, that sounds good, Mary! I don't think that there was enough flavor in the fresh spices for this. Dried spices would be better. I want to look into drying spices this year, up to now I never have.

I've never had fresh oregano, so I have no clue what to do with it. I will have to investigate.

Well, you use dried and fresh herbs for different things. Fresh herbs work best in preparations where they can sit and infuse the food for a bit or can be dropped on top just before serving to perk everything first. Plus, with fresh herbs, you want to make sure they are chopped/crushed up a bit to release the oils that give you the flavor. If you need your herbs to kind of coat your food, or if you'll be cooking for a long time (like a crock pot), use dried. Used properly, fresh herbs actually will give you better, fresher flavor, but they don't work for all things.

I have used my fresh oregano in pasta sauce, long marinade for chicken for fajitas, herbed potatoes, and homemade salad dressing. My plant is in its second year and is growing like crazy right now.